EARLY FAMILIES OF THE UPPER
GREAT LAKESARCHIVES &
FAMILY HISTORY

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EARLY FAMILIES OF THE UPPER GREAT LAKES

Anyone doing French-Canadian family research will at one point or an
other discover that one or more of their ancestors had dit names and then
ask, "Where did dit names come from? When did they begin? Why is it that
some families had dit names and others did not?" Before we even start to
discuss dit names--we should make clear what dit
names
are not--and they are not the following:

A dit name is definitely not a nickname.
A dit name is positively not an alias
A dit names is assuredly not an a.k.a. (also known as).

All three of the above tell you that a dit is not a replacement for an
existing name, i.e. used instead of. A dit name, in fact, was an
extension to an existing name, and became part and parcel of the original
basic name. The custom of having dit names first began amongst the nobles
and kings. It was a matter of positive identity. As an example:
Guillaume, Duke of Normandie--because of his many exploits in military
battles and
conquests--had
the name "Guillaume dit le Conquerant." Then, in 1066 when he invaded and
conquered England, the English people had difficulty in pronouncing his
French
name of Guillaume and they called him "Gillium" but that quickly became
"William". His French dit name of Guillaume dit le Conquerant then became
"William the Conqueror."

The use of dit names did not come into common usage until the late
1500's, it was at this period in history that dit names became very
popular in France. Families of 14, 16, and/or 18 children were not
uncommon. Those large families, sedentary in nature, produced enormous
numbers of duplications of names. For the authorities it created a
problem of proper identification, there were too many people with the
same first and last names. such people as Judges, police chiefs, priests,
and others in authority had to know
definitely
whom they were dealing with, and this is when dit names came into common
usage.

The custom of dit names was extended to the military. In the early
1600's, under the French Regime, any young man entering the service was
assigned a "soubriquet" (a dit name). Usually the dit name assigned was
taken from an attribute of the man. As an example: Romain Becquet was a
huge man, he was given the dit name of La Montagne (the mountain man).
Therefore he became Romain Becquet dit Lamontagne. The custom of the use
of dit names persisted and was carried to Canada. There are some
families, in the Province of
Quebec,
that at this late date, are still using a "double" family name. It was
when the numbers of family members diminished that dit names began to
disappear from the scene.